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So the lawmakers here in capital city are careening, or carefully steering if you prefer, the government right off the budgetary cliff. Sometime after tonight, the much-feared and mostly expected government shut down will become a reality.

We’ve been here before, of course. Lots of times. But despite all the reams of newsprint and piles of pixel devoted to prognosticating, it’s still pretty difficult to say what a government shut down will mean, and to whom.

The director of the Congressional Budget Office told us mid-month that it really depends how long it lasts and how expansively the President interprets the necessary function loop hole that will allow some aspects of the government to continue, budget or no budget. We know, according to the White House, that the Obamacare roll out — and tomorrow’s launch of www.healthcare.gov — will go forward regardless.

And we know that most big contractors — like ones I took a look at this morning (see below) — will continue as before, at least for now, spending out the funds they’ve already been approved for. (It’ll get trickier, of course, for those companies that might be in the midst of negotiating new contracts and could see decisions delayed.)

The AP reports that many of the ways the government impacts us as citizens from day to day will continue — the mail, for instance, and healthcare for veterans. But many other services will be stopped — from parks to the Statue of Liberty to applications for new veteran health care treatment.

As for Wall Street, it has concerns, as do the global markets. Then again, just over the weekend we were told that investors were so dang tired of the regular brinksmanship in Washington that they were disinclined to get worked up about this time around.

Barron’s perspective seems to cut through some of the rhetoric and points out that a short-term shut down will have small impact on the markets. What will hurt, it suggests, would be a standoff over raising the debt ceiling.

Meanwhile, if you run a business that does business with the federal government — or one that simply relies on it for your operations — tell me what impact you think a shut down will have on your bottom line. If it depends on its duration, give us a sense of what your pinch point is — when will it start to hurt?

Cutting corporate taxes won’t spur economic growth, according to a research report by issued today by the Economic Policy Institute.

The institute’s director of budget research, Tom Hungerford, found no proof that high corporate taxes negatively affect the economy — and no correlation at all between corporate tax rates and economic growth. He analyzed corporate tax rates and economic growth since 1947.

Corporate taxes have been in the headlines after last month’s outrage that the world’s most valuable tech company Apple Inc. shifted profits to a low-tax offshore tax haven and created offshore entities to avoid paying billions of dollars in U.S. taxes, according to congressional investigators.

Apple defended its practices and chief executive Tim Cook proposed an overhaul of the U.S. Tax Code by lowering the top U.S. corporate rate of 35 percent.

But Hungerford says the U.S. corporate income tax serves several purposes: It raises a significant amount of revenue; contributes to the overall progressiveness of the U.S. Tax Code; and prevents people from using companies as tax shelters. And “since lower rates won’t boost economic growth, there’s no reason to cut or eliminate the tax as part of a reform deal,” he said.

– The United States’ effective corporate income tax rate of 27.7 percent is close to the average for other wealthy nations (27.2 percent, weighted by gross domestic product).

– The U.S. corporate income-tax rate is not high historically. The statutory corporate tax rate gradually has fallen from more than 50 percent in the 1950s to 35 percent today.

– The U.S. corporate tax rate is not hurting corporate profits. Pre-tax and after-tax corporate profits as a percentage of national income are at post–World War II highs: 13.6 percent and 11.4 percent, respectively, in 2012.

Texas does not have a state corporate tax. Instead, it levies a margin tax, which includes a 0.5 percent to 1 percent tax on gross receipts.The Texas legislature just passed some changes to the margin tax, including making permanent an exemption for businesses with less than $1 million in annual revenue.

The U.S. Department of Defense today published a short video to help active military members and their families during the tax season.

For instance, the video states that if your spouse is deployed this tax season, you can be granted power of attorney to file a joint tax return. Also, if your spouse is in a combat zone during tax season, you can e-file a joint return with a written statement saying your spouse is unable to sign the form.

Texas could lose more than 14,000 jobs as a result of a little known provision of the new healthcare law called the Health Insurance Tax, according to a report released today by the National Federation of Independent Business Research Foundation.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will impose a sales tax on health insurance starting in 2014. It’s structured as a fee on U.S. health insurance providers, but NFIB’s analysis projects that most of the tax will be passed on to the buyer of insurance: employers and employees.

By 2020, the NFIB expects the tax to decrease U.S. real sales by $19 billion to $35 billion and increase the cost of employer-sponsored insurance by 2 percent to 3 percent — or nearly $5,000 in higher premiums per family.

Nationally, that could lead to 146,000 to 262,000 in private-sector job losses by 2022, with 59 percent among small businesses, the NFIB said. Texas employment could decline by 7,751 to 14,135 people.

“Businesses in Texas are struggling under unprecedented costs from taxes and regulations,” said NFIB Texas director Will Newton. “This destructive tax simply must go, if we are ever to return to the thriving culture of growth and entrepreneurship that Texans are accustomed to.”

Legislators recently introduced bills in the U.S. House and Senate to repeal the tax.

The NFIB recently issued these estimates for the nation and 10 states as an update to its 2011 study on the impact of the Health Insurance Tax as a result of the health care law.

Texas employers will see their unemployment insurance tax rates decline slightly next year, according to the Texas Workforce Commission.

The agency said the 2013 average tax rate will be 1.82 percent next year, down from 1.96 percent. Employer-paid taxes replenish the Texas Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund, which provides temporary income for Texas workers who are laid off through no fault of their own.

Insurers use “experience rating” to determine unemployment insurance premium prices based on the employer’s claims history for the last three years. Companies with more claims by past workers face higher rates. The average tax rate for experience-rated employers will be 1.71 percent in 2013, down from 1.87 percent this year.

More than 250,000 Texas employers pay the standard minimum tax rate, which will be 0.54 percent next year vs. 0.61 percent this year. At the minimum tax, an employer would pay $48.60 per employee in 2013, compared with $54.90 this year.

The maximum tax rate, paid by 6.8 percent of Texas employers, will be 7.35 percent in 2013.

NorthPark Center has filed a lawsuit against Macy’s that claims the department store has ignored tax notices since 2006 and it installed new dock doors without first getting landlord approval.

The Dallas mall said Macy’s owes it $1,387,430.95 in taxes for its share of the assessed taxes on a multi-level parking garage that was built in 2006 on the Macy’s east side.

NorthPark said Macy’s is violating its lease on both counts.

The dock door, installed in December 2010, are visible from a main mall entrance that faces Park Lane.

The doors “do not have the same appearance as the original door and have damaged the center’s aesthetic appeal.”

Because of the dock doors “are in an area that faces a major gateway into the center rather than in a rear area of the center, NorthPark never would have approved — and did not approve their installation,” NorthPark said in the lawsuit.

Macy’s just finished expanding and remodeling the men’s clothing and women’s shoe departments at its NorthPark store.

The National Association of Manufacturers warned today that the looming fiscal cliff has cut 0.6 percentage points from GDP this year.

The fiscal cliff is the combination of year-end spending cuts ($1.2 trillion over 10 years) and tax increases (the Bush tax cuts expire) that is scheduled to occur on Jan. 2. Congress can intervene to stop the spending cuts and stave off the tax increases, but it will require an epic compromise reached during the lame-duck session following the November election. (President Obama said this week in an interview with the Des Moines Register that he anticipates a deal but “it will probably be messy.”)

If Congress doesn’t avoid the cliff, the economy would experience a total fiscal contraction of $500 billion, with about $100 billion from federal spending cuts and $400 billion from higher tax revenue, according to the NAM study. Businesses would feel the squeeze as consumers, burdened by higher taxes, cut their spending. Employment losses would result, with NAM predicting the unemployment rate would reach 11 percent by 2014. The economy could tip into recession, as GDP falls by three percentage points compared to the baseline. (The Federal Reserve estimates growth next year between 2.3 and 3.5 percent.)

None of this was previously unknown. The CBO as well as many independent economists have predicted that a sudden dose of Big Austerity could toss the economy into recession.

Of course, these are all good reasons why (even) Congress won’t let the fiscal cliff occur. Even so, doing a deal won’t be easy. Republicans want big spending cuts (but not for defense) and Democrats want tax hikes on the rich. The leverage that either side wields depends on the outcome of the election.

A group known as “Fix the Debt” has recruited 80 CEOs to pressure Congress to enact a long-term solution to the $16 trillion federal debt.

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, a Mitt Romney supporter, is among the CEOs quoted in a Wall Street Journal story today about the group’s efforts.

Stephenson says he regards tax increases as an “unavoidable” part of a long-term solution to reduce the federal debt:

“When you talk about a $16 trillion debt, I don’t see how you can avoid addressing both sides,” namely spending cuts and tax increases. Asked about the difference between his position and Mr. Romney’s, Mr. Stephenson said: “This is bigger than any one political candidate.”

The CEOs say federal spending cuts and Medicare and Social Security reform should accompany any tax increases. One CEO says the group would oppose any new taxes “unless accompanied by significant spending restraint.”

“Folks who have lost their jobs and who spend time updating resumes and attending career fairs should look into the possibility that they may qualify for a deduction,” said Clay Sanford, IRS spokesman in Dallas.

The expenses must be spent on a job search in your CURRENT occupation to be deductible. You may not deduct expenses incurred while looking for a job in a new occupation.

Also, if you travel to an area to look for a new job in your present occupation, you may be able to deduct travel expenses to and from the area.

For more information about job search expenses, see IRS Publication 529, Miscellaneous Deductions.